The present invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and particularly relates to an electrical connector having a conductive shield.
Shielded connectors are generally known. A conventional connector generally includes an insulating housing, a receptacle defined within the housing, and a plurality of conductive terminals contained within the terminal cavities. The connector is configured so that a mating plug can be received by the receptacle for electrically contacting the terminals. The known housing is rectilinear in shape. Such a conventional connector additionally includes a conductive shield that substantially covers the insulating housing.
To provide shielding coverage around all four sides of the housing, as well as an upper mating side that receives the mated plug, the shield includes four side panels and a mating side. An aperture is defined in the mating side to provide access into the receptacle opening. The side panels may include mounting legs for fixing the connector to the circuit board. Many conventional shields are cut from a planar sheet as a blank that is folded to form four side panels and an upper mating panel.
It is desirable to establish a conductive contact between the shield and the mated plug that is received by the connector for further reducing noise and interference. In prior art connectors, such grounding contact has been inadequate.
Additionally, the shape of conventional shields has been rather complex, resulting in undesirable manufacturing inefficiencies. One conventional connector, for example, has a unitary shield formed from an generally T-shaped blank cut from a sheet, including a mating panel located in a center of the T-shaped blank. A strip comprised of a first, second and a third side panel extends from one edge of the mating panel, and a fourth side panel projecting from an opposite edge of the mating panel. A plurality of locking tabs and mounting legs project from these side panels, further complicating the overall shape of the flat shield blank. The shield is then formed generally into a box shape to encase the exterior of the insulative housing by bending each of the side panels perpendicularly. Unfortunately, when cutting a sheet to yield a plurality of shield blanks having such a complex shape, a significant amount of material is wasted, thus increasing manufacturing costs. Additionally, the folding process is cumbersome.
During manufacture, shields are typically plated prior to assembly with the housing. A plurality of the shields are placed together to be processed as a batch during the plating process. Unfortunately, the complex shield shape can cause the shields to become entangled with each another. Unless the entangled shields are carefully separated, the shields can be bent and deformed. Therefore, the complex shield shape requires the careful inspection and separation of the shields after plating. These steps further raise manufacturing costs.
Therefore, a need exists for a connector having improved grounding and having an effective electromagnetic shield that is less expensive to manufacture. A shield design is desirable which reduces wasted material and which is less susceptible to entangling with other shields.